ST. LOUIS (USBWA) The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected BYU guard Jimmer Fredette as the winner of the 2010-11 Oscar Robertson Trophy, annually presented to the National Player of the Year.
The 6-2, 195-pound senior from Glens Falls, N.Y., becomes the first national player of the year from BYU and just the second from the Mountain West Conference after Utah's Andrew Bogut won the award in 2005.
Fredette will be presented with the Oscar Robertson Trophy by its namesake Oscar Robertson at the USBWA's annual College Basketball Awards Breakfast on Friday, April 1 at 8 a.m. at The George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Final Four. For tickets to the awards breakfast, visit the USBWA website, usbwa.com.
A first-team USBWA All-American and USBWA District VIII Player of the Year, Fredette was chosen as the national player of the year from a field of 10 finalists. The Mountain West Player of the Year led Cougars (32-5) to the Mountain West regular-season championship and into the Southeast Regional in New Orleans, where they were eliminated by Florida in overtime.
Fredette leads the nation in scoring with 28.9 points per game and, in three NCAA tournament games, he averaged 32.7 points. He also led the team in assists with 4.3 per game and shot 89.4 percent from the free-throw line. He shattered Danny Ainge's school career scoring mark, finishing his career with 2,599 points after scoring a school-record 1,068 points this season.
He had 15 games in which he scored at least 30 points, including four 40-plus-point games and a 52-point game in the Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinals on March 11 vs. New Mexico. The NCAA's active career scoring leader was the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 12, 2010.
"Jimmer had an incredible season and was a great teammate and leader for our team," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "His main focus throughout the season was to help our team be successful and win games. Jimmer is a great player and I'm proud of all of his accomplishments."
In addition to the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Henry Iba Award will be presented to Notre Dame's Mike Brey as the association's national coach of the year, Rice's Arsalan Kazemi will receive the Most Courageous Award and Texas coach Rick Barnes will receive the USBWA's Good Guy Award at the awards breakfast. The legendary University of Houston "Phi Slama Jama" teams will also be honored on Friday morning.
The Oscar Robertson Trophy is voted on by the entire membership of the association, which consists of more than 900 journalists. It is the nation's oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA's first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. Today, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at 314-444-4325.
Related links:
2011 Oscar Robertson Trophy finalists
· Oscar Robertson Trophy